All Nashville is a chill. And everywhere Like desert sand, when the winds blow, There is each moment sifted through the air, A powdered blast of January snow. O! thoughtless Dandelion, to be misled By a few warm days to leave thy natural bed, Was folly growth and blooming over soon. And yet, thou blasted yellow-
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states
Tennessee
A native of Mufreesboro and state poet laureate since 1995, Margaret Britton Vaughn's literary accomplishments are widespread. She has published numerous books of poetry, penned the official bicentennial poem of Tennessee, and she wrote the official poem for the Tennessee state quarter,“Mr. Tennessee Music Man.”
recent & featured listings
type |
name | state |
|---|---|---|
| Radio Program | Difficult Listening—The Poetry Show | Tennessee |
| Reading Series | River City Writers Series | Tennessee |
| Colony | Tennessee Young Writer's Workshop | Tennessee |
| Writing Program | Middle Tennessee State University Writer's Loft | Tennessee |
| Writing Program | Sewanee: School of Letters | Tennessee |
| Writing Program | University of Tennessee, Chattanooga | Tennessee |
| Writing Program | University of Tennessee, Knoxville | Tennessee |
| Writing Program | Vanderbilt University | Tennessee |
| Writing Program | University of Memphis | Tennessee |
| Conference | Chattanooga Conference on Southern Literature | Tennessee |
poems
poem
1916
poem
2003
Flashing in the grass; the mouth of a spider clung
to the dark of it: the legs of the spider
held the tucked wings close,
held the abdomen still in the midst of calling
with thrusts of phosphorescent light--
When I am tired of being human, I try to remember
the two stuck together like burrs. I poem
2012
in memory of Reetika Vazirani (1962-2003) and Rachel Wetzsteon (1967-2009) Sewanee, Tennessee. Summer of '96, I went there for booze and poetry and rest. I danced a little dance; I talked a little shop. I forgot a recent ghost. "Invitation to a Ghost" was my favorite poem in Tennessee
